In November, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announced his resignation as head of the Church of England after an independent investigation into the crimes of John Smyth revealed how he failed to take the necessary steps to -to bring fetid abuse to justice. He officially retired in early January.
Makin's independent investigation found that Smyth, an advocate involved in Christian ministry, abused as many as 130 boys and men at Christian summer camps in Africa and England over four decades. Smyth, whose review traced his victims to physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, died in 2018 at the age of 75, without facing a full account.
The abuse suffered by John Smyth was “brutal and disgusting”, the inquest found. “Words cannot adequately describe the horror he experienced.”
The testimonies of the victims who participated in the investigation make for heartbreaking reading. Many say they waited more than four decades to disclose the abuse because they were afraid they would be blamed or believed.
The advocate's appalling abuse of boys involved in Christian camps was first identified in the 1980s, the investigation found, but the Church of England failed to take appropriate action and practically allowed it to continue the abuse, both in England and Africa.
Archbishop Welby volunteered at some of the holiday camps where Smyth abused boys in the 1970s but denied any knowledge of concerns about the application at the time. Makin's review concludes that this is “unlikely”. Welby may not have known the extent of the abuse, the authors admitted, but he knew it had happened.
Archbishop Welby says he was first made aware of Smyth's offenses in 2013, but accepts he somehow failed to lodge an official report with the police. The inquest found that if Welby had reported the abuse to the authorities at the time, “in all likelihood”, Smyth would have been brought to justice “at a much earlier stage”. This would have saved Smyth's victims 10 more years of agony, given them more time to hold him accountable for his crimes before his death, and showed that the church and its leaders are serious about 'caring for people who have been abused by clergy.
In his resignation statement, Welby said he had to “take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and regressive period between 2013 and 2024”.
But it was not easy for Welby to resign – he had to be forced out of office under great pressure. Just as he failed to act to bring Smyth to justice, Welby also failed to take responsibility for his role in shielding an abuser from accountability.
Following the publication of Makin's review, Welby initially told the media that he had no intention of resigning. It was only after senior clergy, such as Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley of Newcastle, asked him to step aside that Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to offer his support, and public criticism began to mount. on social media that he admitted responsibility. and willingly agreed to resign.
Sadly, Welby is not the only high-ranking figure in the Church of England to be criticized for his inadequate response to child abuse.
Earlier this month, the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, the second most senior bishop in the Church of England, was forced to apologize following an investigation into his handling of another Church-related abuse case England in 2019. Cottrell is accused of allowing a priest to remain in office, even though he knew he was banned from being alone with children and paid compensation to someone a victim of sexual abuse.
As the next highest bishop in the Church, Cottrell will take over the role of Archbishop of Canterbury in January while Welby will be elected permanently in his place.
Until now, Cottrell has refused increasing calls for his resignation, claiming the continued employment of the abusive priest, which was not his fault, according to reports he was suffering from great distress, and that he should not lose his job over it. “I'm very sorry we weren't able to take action earlier,” he said, “but that was the situation I inherited. “
No one, not even the most senior leaders, seems to feel any real responsibility for the apparent inability of the Church of England to protect children, to admit abuse when it happens, to remove abusers from office have, and deliver justice to victims of all ages without being under pressure. with the public.
Welby's resignation is no doubt welcome, and should be followed by others. But the growing crisis in the church clearly shows that what is needed today is not resignation, but instead, real institutional responsibility and meaningful action.
The church must urgently implement a serious training program on violation of boundaries and sexual exploitation in all its seminaries and theological training colleges, and fully develop appropriate disciplinary procedures to deal with sexual exploitation, physical and emotional effects on adults and children alike.
A system must be put in place that would guarantee the immediate removal of any offenders. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse Statement (IICSA), published in 2022, found that clergy abuse in the United Kingdom is endemic, and that senior members of the church often protect offenders by moving them to another parish if there are rumors – or even where the abuse has been. reported by the victim(s). Sending an accused person into “exile”, of course, accomplishes little other than keeping the church free from scandal at this time. The victims cannot find justice or a chance to heal. Untreated and unpunished, the abuser simply continues the abuse in his new situation. As was the case with Smyth, this sad pattern repeats itself until someone, often a victim, manages to make the crime public. Then the journey begins. Church leaders begin to talk about “hereditary conditions” and plead ignorance.
This cannot be allowed to continue.
It is time for the church to accept its responsibilities, stop abusers and focus on supporting victims.
It must also be remembered that this is by no means a problem unique to the Church of England. Scandals of this type appear from time to time in churches around the world, from the UK and Ireland to the United States and Australia.
In Spain, it is estimated that more than 200,000 children have been abused by the Catholic clergy since 1940. An independent investigation published its report on the scandal in 2023, and it was of believed that the church's response to the endemic abuse was “adequate”. Under severe political pressure, the Catholic Church initiated a complaint procedure for clerical abuse in 2020. As a result nearly 1000 victims came forward. But it is widely known that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
In France, a Research 2021 into clerical abuse found that at least 216,000 children were abused in the French Catholic Church since 1950, by at least 3,000 abusers. The authors of the report accused the church of showing “cruel indifference” towards the victims. They said the abuse took place in Catholic schools, churches and holiday camps across France, with most victims between the ages of 10-13. Many had tried to tell church leaders about the abuse and were not believed.
Clerical abuse is systematic and cannot be dismissed as isolated instances committed by unusual “false” perpetrators.
There is ample evidence that many, many perpetrators continue to operate in various churches around the world, with little or no scrutiny from religious authorities or indeed, law enforcement. . This lack of guidance means they can continue their abuse in plain sight, feeling unfathomable.
To this day, it seems that clergy abuse is open, and abusers are punished, mainly because of the bravery and strength of victims.
It was 20 years ago that the Center for Women's Justice, a charity I co-founded, won the highest accolade, the Emma Humphreys Memorial Awardto Dr. Margaret Kennedy, survivor and leading campaigner on sexual abuse by clergy. She established MACS (Minister & Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors), a national organization that supports women and men who have experienced sexual abuse by clergy or ministers, as a child or as an adult. MACSAS is still going strong today, and doing important work supporting survivors and bringing abusers to justice.
Margaret Kennedy, and all the other brave people who have lived over the past decades to show their oppression by clergy, should not have to campaign for justice. It should be easily administered. The church, along with all other religious institutions, should make it their priority to purge the ranks of abusers, traitors and child rapists.
The time for passing the buck, excuses and some leaders resigning with a few leaders is long over.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
